Kinect on Windows officially announced for 2012

2012 commercial release promises to “help the world re-imagine everything”

Kinect will be extending onto Windows PCs in early 2012, it was officially announced this week. The platform, which has been in development for some time by Microsoft's Kinect for Windows Team, will see a commercial launch in early 2012. Team GM Craig Eisler, acknowledging the effect Kinect has already has on gaming and entertainment, modestly promised the launch of Kinect for Windows would enable users to “re-imagine” not just those fields – but everything else as well.

As Eisler points out, Kinect's applications are already extending far beyond gameplay for the controller-averse. Just this week, we saw how two engineering students had adapted the system to provide belt-mounted navigational aids for the visually impaired. Eisler boasts 200 companies already taking part in the Kinect for Windows pilot program, developing applications “from education to healthcare, gaming to art installations, manufacturing to retail.”

Curious tinkerers can head to the Kinect for Windows site to browse resources and download development code. How would you like to see the hardware used?